Through Thick and Thin
by princess lullaby
Summary: "Maybe I should have followed Testu-kun instead, Aomine." No matter how competitive and short-tempered he is, the ace can never win when it comes to seeing his best friend cry, and he wasn't going to let her disappear from his life either. [Part 1 of AoMomo collection "Team of Two". Fluff.]
1. Part I

Hello Everyone!

 **Team of Two:** A collection of AoMomo short stories that highlight Aomine and Satsuki's relationship at different points in their lives. From here on out it's not necessary to read the titles in order, as they will make sense on their own and have no particular chronological time order. However, it is still recommended to do so for the sake of better effect (some parts may overlap and intertwine). The stories are not _explicitly_ romantic, as they highlight strong friendship, but will have fairly strong implications. :)

Tentative, but is intended to be a 3-Part collection (will be posted separately), depending on if it is received well ^^ Stay tuned for more!

 **Story #1 (Through Thick and Thin):** It bothered me how their fight back in season 2 was never really resolved (When Aomine lashed out at Momoi and she threw books at him... Momoi never really got a chance to speak to her emotions at that time before they actually "made up". Well, heres my version of what happened before they stared being friends again!

 **Disclaimer:** It's obvious, but don't like the pairing? Don't read.

 **Rated T:** For language and sexually suggestive themes.

KnB © Fujimaki Tadatoshi

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 **Through Thick and Thin**

Part I

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* * *

"Aomine-kun!"

The pink-haired girl stumbled through the empty hallways of Touou, wincing in pain from the harsh grip that punctured her wrist. It began to noticeably cut off her circulation, but she didn't bother to do anything about it. Instead, she looked up to stare at the back of her best friends' head, wondering what kind of expression he was making right now as he forcefully dragged her to god knows where.

She had to admit, she was a bit scared to face him right now.

There's no doubt as to what this was about. Right after practice, he marched towards to her locker where she was gathering her things and suddenly pulled her away, refusing to spare her the chance of settling down the books that were still tucked under her arm. If it weren't for the fact that the students that had already gone home, people would've automatically assumed it was one of their typical quarrels. Momoi, the sweet, bubbly fuchsia-eyed girl never missing her duty to lecture the ever-so-indifferent Aomine for either skipping practice or paying too much attention to Horikita Mai at the wrong times.

Little would the public know that this time, it wasn't one of those moments.

She knew she had explicitly betrayed her friend in a way that would hurt him the most. Even so, she decided that she would rather risk him hating her forever than to let him play against Akashi in the state that he was in. It didn't even last her a minute to come to a decision- that's how positive she was.

However, from the way he was holding her wrist right now.. She suddenly became afraid that even a decade of friendship wouldn't be enough to prevail what was to come. She knew all too well her chances of winning this inevitable argument.

"AOMINE-KUN!" She exclaimed once more, louder this time, before he roughly pushed the door open and shifted his tall stature to the side in order to squeeze them both through. She didn't get a chance to compose herself, to even think about how to start things off before he swung himself around to face her, finally letting go of her wrist in a harsh manner.

"What the hell do you think you're doing!?" The two childhood friends stood anterior to eachother underneath the cover of the school's cement pillars, letting the rain be the only thing that could interrupt their confrontation.

"You'd just play recklessly against Akashi-kun, wouldn't you?" The pink-haired girl retorted, getting straight to the point. A large pit began to form in her stomach. "You _know_ that it's a completely idiotic thing to do, and you were going to do it-"

"This has _nothing_ to do with you," Aomine jumped in with a raised voice, though she still tried her best to keep her composure.

Momoi gulped. "If anything were to happen-"

"I told you not to worry about that. You're always here messing with me, Satsuki, but I never would've thought you'd tick me off this way." The ace spat in an icy tone, pausing before he let out his last burst. "Since when did you become my guardian!?"

At this point, his childhood friend could feel her heart pounding against her chest. She was caught between being afraid, apologetic, but most of all utterly angry. "Aomine-kun, do you even realize how oblivious and insensible you're being right now!?"

"No, you know what, Satsuki." He gritted his teeth, furrowing his eyebrows into a visible crease.

"Don't show your ugly face around here ever again."

Momoi froze, feeling winded from every single word that came out of his mouth. The two of them maintained their gazes the next few seconds, Aomine's obsidian orbs glaring into her own widened eyes. Finally, she felt herself gripping her books tighter.

"What the heck is your problem, you ganguro!?" She suddenly yelped. In an instantaneous reflex, the books in her arms flew straight up towards his face, colliding harshly with his chin as he swayed his head back from the sudden impact. "See if I care!"

"Satsuki! Hey.." The ace yelled out, letting the last syllable of his words fade out into the air as he held his chin and watched his best friend disappear out of his sight.

* * *

"What's going on, Aomine-san? How come you're sitting over on this side?"

The blue-haired boy glared at his teammate, who had annoyingly been what seemed like the hundredth person to ask him a question that was merely the hidden version of _"Hey, what the hell is going on between you and Satsuki?"_

"None of your business." He responded coldly.

First of all, he was sitting on the bench because his injured knee had prevented him from participating in the next few basketball practices at Touou. Second of all, it was all thanks to his childhood friend. He walked in on the Interhigh championship with the intent of crushing his old teammates one by one, especially Akashi. Instead, thanks to her blabbering, he was sitting in the exact way he would during the final match against Rakuzan.

For once, though, it was surprising that he actually showed up to the practice itself. Well, not because he wanted to. That wasn't it at all. The only reason he came out of his own will was because he knew the culprit of his troubles would be here.

As if on cue, his eyes flickered over to the other side of the gymnasium, gazing sharply at the pink-haired girl sitting with her ankles crossed and a clipboard resting in her lap. Within the few minutes he spent observing her, he realized she paid no eye contact with him at all, not even when he first trickled in. It pissed him off.

Aomine grunted under his breath. He was still annoyed at what she did, but she was always like that. Going around and doing whatever she wanted, forcing him to do this and that. Honestly, he never really minded it until now. He knew she did things with the intent of helping him, but he didn't know why he let his emotions get the better of him.

He still remembers the days he spent with her when they were little. From elementary to middle school and now, here she was now with him at Touou. He wouldn't know what it would feel like if she attended a different school. He never thought about it because.. Well, he just didn't think it would ever happen.

It's probably something along the lines of destiny or whatnot.

And that's exactly why for the first time in forever, he realized the impact of his words and the look in her eyes when he said he didn't need her face around ever again. Satsuki may be fierce and upfront, but she was a delicate person regardless. If anything, that's the one thing he knew about her almost as well as everything she knew about him.

Even so, there was no way he was going to march over to her, grab her arm and say, "I'm sorry Satsuki, that was really insensitive of me. Please forgive me and let's be best friends again, okay?"

No, impossible. His ego simply wouldn't let it.

"Say, Momoi-chan seems to be distant with Aomine today."

The ace's ears perked up at the immediate mention of his name. He rolled his eyes over to his left, observing the conversation between two seniors standing at a considerable distance. Of course people would notice on the first day. Him and Satsuki were practically glued together all the time.

"You're right, I've noticed it too. Maybe we'll actually have a chance to get closer to her. She's usually hard to approach because he's always guarding her like a beast."

Bullshit. He doesn't _guard_ her. It just so happens that their relationship is commensalistic. Because he was so tall and excelled in the art of frowning faces, it helped Momoi fend off any unwanted predators whenever he was around. He didn't really mind, more less cared that his mere presence was advantageous for her.

If you're talking about what _does_ manage to piss him off though, well, it's when the bolder ones would all of a sudden come up and invade their personal space just to get desperately close to Satsuki. That's usually when he would voluntarily teach them a verbal lesson.

"We'll have to utilize this opportunity, then. Ah, maybe we can even get her to entertain us for a while."

Aomine froze, narrowing his eyes. What the hell is that supposed to mean? He zeroed his attention on them further at the sudden shift of their conversation.

"Heh, who thinks that Momoi-chan and I will already be at second base by the end of this week?" A senpai with long, silky hair tied into a ponytail exclaimed lewdly.

He was responded by the shorter guy with slicked back, jet-black hair. "Woah, only? You're not that great though, she'd definitely want to go all the way with someone like me."

".. How do you think she likes it?"

"She looks the gentle type."

"No, probably nice and rough. With boobs like that, I bet she can do real dir-"

"Oi."

The two seniors shifted themselves around, flinching at Aomine's sudden piercing voice, though they weren't afraid. It was more shocking that he had been listening all this time.

Their eyes were met with a cold, demeaning glare as the ace curled his lips into a mocking smirk. "Sorry to burst your dirty dreams, but you dickheads aren't her type." It was utterly disgusting hearing a bunch of strangers talk about his childhood friend that way.

"What the hell did you just say?" One of them whispered provokingly.

"Yukio, don't." The senpai with the longer hair returned Aomine's smirk. "He's all riled up because he hasn't gotten any further than we have."

"Ah.. You're right, Tadashi-san. So many opportunities as a childhood friend, too. What a waste."

Suddenly, in a blink of an eye, Aomine had darted towards the long-haired senpai, grabbing him by the collar of his jersey and pulling it with an intense force so that he was seeing him eye to eye. "Don't lump me in the same group as you sick freaks." He spat in an icy tone, maintaining a strong gaze while ignoring the people around him who had shuffled over to try and diffuse the situation. "My point is, don't even fucking _think_ about trying anything with Satsuki. If you have so much time to talk about your dirty fantasies, practice your damn basketball so you can get in the lineup one day."

He continued to hold his gaze, slowly taking in the nervous look on the senpai's face. In a few seconds, he let out a scoff and smiled mockingly before roughly letting go of his collar and pushing him to the side before muttering under his breath, but loud enough so that they could still hear.

"Besides, I've gotten way further than you dumbshits could ever go."

On the other side of the gym, the pink-haired girl had already placed her hands on either side of of the bench to get ready to charge towards the commotion. However, as soon as Aomine had let go of the senior, she let out a breath that she hadn't known she'd been holding and relaxed her bottom back onto her seat.

Aside from her surprise that he had actually shown up to practice today (for mere observation, at that), she couldn't help but think it was unbelievably cruel. That is, having such harsh words being thrown at her, yet her body still reacts whenever she sees him in trouble. After their fight yesterday, she made a trip to Seirin and found comfort in the one she knew who would never say things like that to her. Despite Tetsu's consoling words, something inside of her still felt uneasy.

Aomine had never been the same ever since Teiko. Including the part that his love towards basketball had been lost in a black hole, she was afraid that their friendship was following closely behind. He had distanced himself from everything that breathed, despite the fact that the two of them still managed to do things like walk home together or go shopping once in a while. Even so, with her being here, she felt like he was only getting further and further away.

She wondered almost every day what she could do for him that could help him regain himself even in the slightest bit. There was nothing else she missed more than the old days.

"Hey, big-boobed girl isn't with Mine-kun as usual."

 _Mine-kun._ That's a new one. Doesn't suit him, though.

Satsuki's senses heightened after hearing three familiar voices coming from the bench beside her. Ah, of course Aomine's fans would be here. For some reason, they never failed to miss a single practice despite the fact that Aomine didn't even have the slightest clue of who they were, nor cared to know. Did they really think she wouldn't hear them from here?

"About time.. she clings to him like she's his mom, or something."

 _Of course I do! I can't keep him out of my sight._

"Maybe Mine-kun finally grew tired of her?"

"I'd be pretty annoyed too. I wonder why she's still following him everywhere."

"You think they're just in a friends with benefits relationship, or something?"

"Ah.. Probably. I can't see why else Mine-kun would like to have her around all the time."

"Hey, ladies." The group of girls turned their heads around at the sudden interruption. Satsuki displayed the sweetest smile she had. "Don't you know that outsiders are prohibited to stay at practice? After all, you're taking up a lot more room than you should."

The girls frowned visibly before getting up and making their way towards the exit, much to the pink-haired girl's inner delight. For people who didn't know a single thing about Aomine, they sure do talk a lot. It was worthless to waste her saliva on outsiders like that.

However, she couldn't help but think about what they said. Aomine may be her best friend, but in the end, it was true that she was nothing more than that. Like the girls implied, she wasn't his girlfriend, much less than his mom. He didn't have to listen to her and he certainly doesn't _need_ her.

Suddenly, she let out a tiny chuckle, almost as if to mock herself. Who was she trying to kid? Was it wrong for her to simply worry, simply care about a person she grew up with all her life?

She could quit the team and never show her face around anymore, like he said. But there was no way she was going to walk away like that. It's not going to be that easy.

After all, right now, there really isn't anyone else besides her.


	2. Part II

KnB © Fujimaki Tadatoshi

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 **Through Thick and Thin**

Part II

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Aomine peered out of the classroom window from his desk, lazily observing the pattering rain with his body casually lounging against the hard chair that supported his back.

It was weird not having her around him as usual. During practice yesterday, it was more than obvious that the two of them barely acknowledged eachother's presence.

This morning, it was also very different. Usually she'd be the one to show up at his house at a time too early for any normal person to be awake, but this time, his eyes had woken up to the face of his own mother. It irked him. If it were Satsuki, she would've allowed him to get the maximum amount of sleep he could while still being able to make it to class on time.

His attention is suddenly brought towards the loud voices yelling and whistling from outside the class. He turns his head to see a group of seniors idling around the classroom door, two of them being the ones he told off yesterday at practice.

"Damn annoying." Aomine muttered under his breath. _Why the fuck are they here?_ Just as he was about to get up to teach them a lesson, he stopped as he saw a familiar pink-haired girl walking up to the door.

"Aomine-kun!" She greeted him with a cheerful wave, though her attention was diverted as one of the two douchebags called her name. What the hell?

First of all, did she suddenly decide to talk to him now?

Second, _what the fuck is that guy doing?_ , he thought. What did he call himself again? Takashi? Tamaki? He watched with an evidently twisted face as the two of them chatted for a moment by the door with Satsuki's expression going from surprised to annoyingly cheerful.

The ace continued to display his usual frowning face as he watched his childhood friend finally come through the entrance and trot herself closer and closer to him, until she stood right in front of his desk. Her face looked too normal to be acknowledged as being angry from what happened.

"Aomine-kun, you thought you could get rid of me that easily?" She sang playfully, earning an eyebrow raise from the ace as she practically read his thoughts.

"What are you doing?" He responded, deciding to deal with that guy later if he tried anything.

"What? I'm talking about what happened to us the other day."

When he asked what she was doing, he meant it more as a rhetorical question. Knowing Satsuki and judging by her expression when she left him out in the rain like that, there's no way he'd be forgiven so easily. "What are you-"

"Don't worry about it." She cuts off his sentence bluntly, and Aomine took the time to carefully read her face. His eyes followed as she made her way to the spot beside him, pulling out her chair and sitting herself down before opening up her schoolbag. "Something like that is trivial to our relationship, right? Unless.." She jolted her head up at him, suddenly adopting her usual playful face. ".. Don't tell me you thought I'd actually leave over something like that!? I didn't know you could be so cute, Aomine-kun!"

"Tch." The ace clicked his tongue in annoyance, immediately resuming his gaze towards the rainy weather outside. She was a lot more normal than he'd thought. "Whatever, then."

* * *

 **THE NEXT DAY.**

She said not to worry about it,

.. So why the hell is this happening?

The ace chewed his melon bun in tiny, harsh bites against his cheek as he sat with his legs resting on top of Momoi's chair. To his annoyance, she wasn't sitting in it during lunch like she usually was. Instead, he observed her on the other side of the classroom, and she seemed to be laughing cheerfully along with two other girls.

Since when did she get so chummy with other people in the class when all she did before was hangout with him?

Well, it's not that part that mattered. What did matter was the fact that she had clearly been avoiding him for the past few days even though they had supposedly "made up".

 _"Walk home?" The pink-haired girl grasped a basketball in her hands, pausing before it was her turn to do a layup in gym class._

 _Aomine stared at her intently, narrowing his eyes in anticipation for her response. If she decided to give some kind of sad excuse, he-_

 _"Oh, but I need to run some errands after school today. It might take awhile, so I don't think it'd be a good idea, Aomine-kun."_

 _The blue-haired boy frowned. "I can wait."_

 _"No no, I'm serio- ah! I almost missed my turn!"_

And the same thing the day after that.

 _"Oi, Satsuki."_

 _The pink-haired girl shifted around in her seat, though she kept her eyes on writing the last bit of her notes instead of looking up at the voice that belonged to her childhood friend. "Yeah?"_

 _"Let's go shopping after school today."_ _Aomine suggested as he stood right in front of her desk, looking down at his friend._

 _"Ah, I can't today."_ _She finally looked up. "Karasawa-chan needs some help with her math work so I'll be tutoring her for awhile."_

 _"Who the hell is Ka-"_

 _"Anyway, that's that. Ah, I forgot I need to go give Imayoshi-senpai some data, see you later Aomine-kun!" With that, the pink-haired girl quickly shuffled her things into the bag beside her desk, giving him a quick wave and smile before running out of the class._

If there was anything he knew for sure in this whole situation, it was that Satsuki was a great liar, but definitely not great enough to get past him. She could fool anyone else, but he knew by every pitch of her voice that she wasn't telling him the truth.

On another note, he was also irritated at the fact that his routine had been broken. It was always the same thing everyday- he would consistently receive an invitation from her to do the deed of walking home together, but nowadays she hadn't initiated anything at all.

He decided he wasn't going to stand by like this and let his daily itinerary to get broken. After lunch, he followed her to her locker as soon as she was alone from her new company.

"Satsuki." He said her name lazily as usual, trailing behind her as two of them paced themselves down the long hallway.

"Yeah?" She responded, completely nonchalant as they reached their destination in the locker areas. He watched her, standing from a distance as she began to open up her belongings.

Aomine didn't hesitate. "Let's walk home after class today."

"Sorry Dai-chan, I have something else to do today so you can go first."

Again, as expected.

"Like what?"

Momoi shuffled some of her things in her locker, though it was evident that she was only trying to prevent facing him for as long as she could.

"I need to review more things with Kawasara."

The blue-haired boy scoffed. "Of course you do."

Satsuki paused in her actions, surprised at Aomine's unexpected arrogance. At the same time, she wondered if he knew she was making up excuses. "What's with that attitude?"

He watched her as she continued to shuffle around with her things, placing things in her bag and taking things out.

"When are you studying?" He asked a new question this time, ignoring her previous remark.

"Uh, after she finishes her club activities."

"Why don't you just go home first, then?"

"No, I can wait."

Aomine felt his patience begin to run out. It was so obvious she was trying to avoid being alone with him. "But that's inconvenient."

"No, It's easier if I just kill time at school, then I wouldn't have to co-"

"Just walk home with me!" He suddenly raised his voice, causing her to flinch in surprise.

Her patience was running out, as well.

" _You're not my guardian._ " She whispered menacingly, giving off an aura of impending anger.

At this moment, he could have sworn his heart had dropped a thousand craters below the ground. Everything seemed to have irritated him all at once- the fact that they had that stupid fight and the fact that she's been lying to him and pretending like things were okay when it wasn't.

The pink-haired girl slammed her locker shut. Just as she was getting ready to turn herself around, her body jumped from the two hands that slammed on either side of her, creating a loud crash against the adjacent lockers next to her own. She still had her back facing him, but she didn't need to turn around to know that he was probably really pissed off right now.

"Satsuki." He started in a surprisingly calm but serious tone. She shut her eyes and prepared herself to revolt against another loud burst.

However, to her bewilderment, the next thing she knew was that she felt a heavy weight softly push the back of her head.

Aomine kept his forehead pressed against the back of her hair, resting his weight as he formed fists with his two hands still smacked onto the lockers. ".. What are you doing?"

She didn't know how to respond to the defeated tone that took over his voice, something that was rather out of character compared to his usual self. She hadn't seen him in such a defenseless state since their days in Teiko. For a brief second, she felt bad for lashing out at him, although he had done the exact same thing with her.

She opened her mouth to speak, anything, but nothing seemed to come out. After all, she hadn't meant to avoid him like this. No matter what happened, she was still going to stick by his side. After all, she knew he didn't mean to deliberately hurt her.

But even so, she couldn't help but feel like there was a truth to how meddlesome she could be when it came to making decisions for his life.

By being here, was she really helping like she thinks she is, or is she just making it worse?

Instead of managing a reply, she felt her heart drop as the silence continued to engulf the air between them before the bell rung for next period.

* * *

"Aomine-kun, you seem to be in a fouler mood than usual."

The blue-haired boy darted his eyes towards the person who had appeared in front of him. Class had just ended, and he had plans to stop by the convenience store on the way home to pick up the newest gravure magazine in stock. He didn't want to speak to anybody, not after what an annoying day he had.

He simply stared at the captain of the basketball team and responded with a click of his tongue. "What are you talking about, this is my usual mood."

"Hmm.." Imayoshi smiled in doubt, crossing his arms casually.

"What are you doing here anyways?" Aomine asked, finding it more unusual that the third-year captain had shown himself in a first-year's class after school in amidst of the busy students getting ready to leave.

"Well, I was planning to see Satsuki-san because I needed some data from her, but it turns out she's a bit occupied at the moment."

Of course she lied about getting that done the other day. "I thought you two finished that already."

"Eh? No, I thought I'd drop by your class today to pick it up. " The boy with the glasses paused, then grinned in amusement. ".. Could it be that Aomine-kun wasn't with her yesterday, either? "

Aomine scowled. This girl was going to be so dead. "Shut up." He murmured under his breath.

"Hn, how unusual." The captain continued, "Well, that's a shame. I'll have to see her tomorrow before practice then, since she said she'd be busy after school today too."

Imayoshi noted the nonchalant expression on the blue-haired boy's face, who appeared unaffected by his statement. He decided to push a bit further for his amusement. "Perhaps Satsuki-san has a date or something?"

 _As if._ Satsuki would never go on a date at at time like this. That girl only has 3 focuses in her life- Basketball, Tetsu, and endless orders for her childhood friend. "No, she's got some business with Kawa-something or whatever."

"Is that so? I could've sworn I just heard her and Tadashi talk about doing something together after class."

Aomine froze at the immediate mention of the name. Lying to him was one thing, but bringing in one of those disgusting freaks that were talking about making moves on Satsuki was another. Was that what she was really doing? More importantly, he couldn't believe they actually dared to defy him.

He shifted his eyes towards the area near the entrance to the classroom and rested his gaze on top of his childhood friend, who was about to make an exit for the door.

Guess Mai-chan would have to wait.


	3. Part III

KnB © Fujimaki Tadatoshi

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 **Through Thick and Thin**

Part III

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She took a different path than usual, just incase she ran into Aomine. It's what she's been doing for the past few days since their fight.

"Satsuki-san, are you okay?"

The pink-haired girl averted her attention towards the senpai with long hair, who walked beside her in a dangerously close distance.

"I'm fine, thanks." She responded with the best smile she could muster.

"Thanks for helping me compile that data, statistics could get quite confusing sometimes." He gave her a grin in return.

"No problem." Satsuki said quietly, turning her head away from his gaze.

She wasn't stupid.

Tadashi Moritaki, first year student at Touou Academy, second string in the basketball team. 179cm tall, 84kg in weight. Rarely shows up to practice, but more than often observes the female sport club practices. Average player. Hobbies include hanging out in the arcade and loitering with his gang down at city square.

Rumors that he harasses girls on school grounds.

Of course she already knew everything about him, he approached her way too many times throughout the past few days to be considered normal. Earlier on, he asked her to help him with a statistics assignment. So, she conducted a thorough investigation on what she was getting herself into.

If it weren't for the fact that she had might as well use this as an opportunity to lower her chances of running into Aomine on the way home, she would've never agreed to even be near him again.

That was all she had planned to do. Instead, she realized her situation became bigger than she'd thought when he had pestered her to let him walk her home.

"Say, Satsuki-san, do you want to make a stop at the arcade?"

Oh, here it goes.

The pink-haired girl grinned once more, "Nope. I have something to do back at home."

"Come on, I bet you're all stressed out from managing the team and all that." Suddenly, he reached his arm out and hooked his hand at the side of her hip, leaning into her body at an uncomfortable distance. "Let's go loosen up a little, alright?"

"I said no!" She felt a trail of goosebumps run through her body at his disgusting touch. In a swift motion, she jolted away from his grip, jumping back in an effort to escape from his proximity.

Unfortunately, she was too slow as he had immediately grabbed both of her wrists before she managed to get further away.

"Stop! You pervert!" Satsuki mustered up all her strength in an attempt to release herself from his grip, though he only managed to squeeze harder.

"I wasn't planning on doing anything to you, but your friend really got us all hyped up," She felt him lean in closer to her face, to the point where she could feel his breathing right on her skin. "Saying things like I wasn't your type, or whatever."

Instantaneously, a state of panic rushed over her.

"I really hate that guy, you know?" He continued, his face distorting into a treacherous and lewd smile. "He thinks he can just do whatever he wants just because he's a little bit good at basketball. But.. I wonder what kind of a face he'd make if he saw this right now?" Tadashi let his smug expression grow before he started to lean in closer.

"No, stop! You-" Satsuki shut her eyes closed, swinging her arms madly to try and rip herself free.

"Ah, who knew girls with ugly faces could be so popular."

Suddenly, her eyes jolted open as she felt the grip on her wrists loosen. When she looked up, she was surprised to see the face of her childhood friend, who had delivered a colorful punch towards the side of the senpai's head and subsequently sent him straight towards to the ground.

Tadashi winced, holding his temple in pain. "You bastard-"

"Didn't I tell you not to try anything with Satsuki?" An electrifying glare took shape on Aomine's face, earning a frightened look from the senpai. Thank god he had gotten to them in time.

"Get lost before I murder your perverted ass."

In the next moment, he watched as the senpai scurried himself up from the ground and disappeared in the opposite direction. Aomine's expression slowly relaxed, and finally, he let out a large sigh.

"Oi Satsuki, are you o-"

Just as he shifted himself around, he noticed that the pink-haired girl was gone.

"What the hell!?" Adopting a scarier look than before, he felt his blood beginning to boil. First she had been totally avoiding him like a pest for the past few days, and now her ungrateful self _ran_ from him!?

Suddenly, his eyes caught sight of pink hair flowing past the far corner of the road ahead.

"What a stupid thing to do." He muttered to himself.

Screw his knee. In the next second, his feet automatically broke out into a run.

* * *

Like he had just said, Satsuki hadn't realized how unintelligible she was for running until she had already sprinted. What kind of superior agility did she think she had against Aomine?

She was shocked from what had just happened and also embarrassed by this whole situation between her and her childhood friend. As she ran with all her might, she could feel tears welling up in her eyes and her breathing became more and more staggered. In that instant, she decided that there was no way she could let him see her with this face. After all, she had a pride of her own. He would only make fun of her more.

"SATSUKI! YOU'RE REALLY FUNNY IF YOU THINK YOU CAN OUTRUN ME WITH THOSE SHORT LEGS OF YOURS!" Aomine's voice pierced from behind her, perpetuating her to try and run faster.

She didn't bother looking back, but she knew he was only a few meters behind her.

Her eyes suddenly caught sight of a basketball rolling onto her path ahead. After deciding she could no longer escape from him any further, she charged towards the ball with the last of her strength and scooped it up. In a quick motion, she swung herself around and finally stopped moving before pressing her forehead behind the ball. At the same time, Aomine watched as she shielded her face defensively from him.

He comes to a neat halt in front of her without a need to catch his breath. "You- don't think you can get away after lying to me for the past few days!" He started in a strong tone, only to receive no reply in return. He grits his teeth at her silence. "Oi Satsuki, are you listeni-"

Just as he had reached his hand out towards the ball, Momoi quickly took a step back, immediately sensing his movement. "Don't! Just don't come here right now!"

The ace furrows his eyebrows, beginning to feel annoyed at her gimmick. "I'm going to ask you one more time." He paused while attempting to bring out all the calmness within him, if any. " _What are you doing_ , Satsuki?"

"Do you hate me, Aomine-kun?"

It took a moment for him to register her immediate reply, though he hadn't actually processed the words until he replayed it again in his head. Is that what she thought?

"I don't." He says quietly, suddenly feeling the guilt slowly rush over him.

"Then why do you always push me away when I'm trying to help you?"

Aomine gulped.

"I was angry because you meddled into my business." He noted the shakiness in her voice.

"Your business is my business too, Aomine-kun! I know the game with Rakuzan is very important to you, but.." She paused, making a sound as if she were scoffing. "Have you even taken a look at yourself, recently!? What is happening to you!?"

A wave of silence broke out between the two of them as the blue-haired boy stared at the girl behind the ball. After a few seconds, he began.

"Satsuki, you're one to talk," He spat back, feeling a wave of anger that had come from the pent up frustration over the past few days. On top of that, he was more than annoyed that he couldn't see her face properly. "After all, if we're going to have this kind of conversation, don't hide behind a basketball out of all things!"

Suddenly, in one swift motion, Aomine raised his arm in the air and slammed his palm down, cutting the ball from her hands with an immense power only ever seen on the court. Reflexively, she shut her eyes from the sudden use of his superior speed. She hated that it became dominant at times like these. The impact caused her to flinch her body as the ball roughly escaped from her grip and darted towards the ground, bouncing out of their sight to which their eyes didn't bother to follow.

Instead, the ace kept his attention on the girl in front of him throughout the whole process. Immediately, his orbs widened as he took in his best friend's face, noting the tears that trickled down the sides of her cheeks as she kept her eyes forcefully closed. As he scanned the rest of her expression, he realized that her eyebags had gotten a lot more prominent than before, and suddenly he felt a large pit form inside his stomach.

He opened his mouth in an attempt to form some kind of words. "Hey, Satsuki.."

"You're stupid. So, so, so, utterly stupid." She finally manages to say, spitting the words from her teeth while attempting to control her shaky voice. "You don't realize anything. I wasn't trying to antagonize you at all, you have a damn injury, for god's sake. How can I just sit back and let that kind of stuff happen?"

The two of them stood in opposition, and all of a sudden all the background noise around them seemed to have disappeared before a wave of silence embodied the air.

"-I don't even remember the last time we _laughed_ together, you know?" Momoi's voice broke at her own words, allowing the pit in his stomach to grow larger.

"I just can't believe I'm spending so much time on you when you're so oblivious to the fact that I love and care about my best friend! Even though I want to stay with you no matter what, I can't help but think that if.."

He watched with a serious expression as her voice trailed off, forgetting to breathe. She quickly continued.

"-If my presence really is that of a bother to you, then maybe me being here was a mistake."

At this, the ace made a face that he hadn't even known he was capable of making.

"-Maybe I should have followed Tetsu-kun instead, _Aomine_."

The way she forcefully dragged out the accented syllables of his name made his heart drop. He wasn't sure which part bothered him more- her remark or the fact that for the first time in their entire lives, she failed to use his usual honorific.

Never in his life has he met a woman that was as annoying as his own mother.

Even so, he knew he needed her more than she needed him.

.. How did she expect him to handle this kind of expression of hers when he hadn't seen it since they were kids?

"OUCH, what the hell!?" She suddenly yelped, feeling a harsh contact as Aomine had slammed the tip of his forehead onto hers into a headbutt, though he was careful so that it wouldn't leave a mark. In the end, she was delicate after all.

Satsuki attempted to pull herself back, but was ceased when he had impulsively placed a hand on the back of her head to prevent her from going anywhere. After attempting to struggle her way out of his grip, she gradually came to a stop when she registered the way he had his eyes on her at this moment.

His obsidian orbs stared into her annoyed face, resting at her eyes and noting the tears that had begun to dry on her cheekbones. Though she stopped resisting, he continued to cradle the back of her head.

The two of them locked gazes for a while longer, until suddenly, Satsuki felt her cheeks turn a bright shade of red as she had become aware of the intimate position they were in. Just as she had opened her mouth to speak, she was interrupted by a loud burst.

"What, you have an ugly face, but your brain is rotten too!?" He shouted, dissipating her blush and instead earning a look of anger from his childhood friend from yelling into her face at such a close distance.

"AOMINE-KUN, YOU-"

"Of course you belong here, dammit." He started again, cutting her words. "You've been nagging at me all this time for so long.. It'd be all messed up if I managed to get rid of you that easily!"

Satsuki widened her eyes, surprised at the sentiment of her best friend's words. She watched as his expression loosened up, the creases in his eyebrows slowly beginning to relax.

Was Aomine Daiki trying to apologize?

"Shit," Aomine closed his eyes, suddenly letting go of her head and pulling himself back. He raised an arm and scratched the back of his head in both annoyance and defeat. ".. I know you like to do annoying things like look after my well-being, or whatever. Just know that I never meant to make you cry like this, okay."

He was never one to have a sweet tongue,

.. But somehow, hearing these words made her extraordinarily happy.

"Dai-chan..." Satsuki stared at the man before her, trying hard not to cry at her overwhelming happiness.

"Keep on doing what you're doing, got it!?" Aomine retorted cooly before averting his gaze.

In that moment, for a split second, she swore she saw something different about him, something she hadn't seen for years.

Suddenly, he let out a surprised grunt as Satsuki sent her arms swinging around his neck, making a little jump in the air as she lunged in towards him. Aomine recoiled from the sudden gesture, feeling her body press against him in a tight hug. Immediately, he grabbed onto her lower body to keep her propped up from the ground.

"Thank you, Dai-chan." She hummed softly against his ear. Aomine responded with a nonchalant huff under his breath, though he couldn't help but feel the corner of his lips tug into a smile.

"By the way, that was gross, Satsuki. Don't say you love me ever again."

He could practically feel the hotness of his childhood friend's face as she began to blush madly before bellowing into his ear. "It's because of you that you made me say weird things!"

"Tch. You too." He responded, tilting his head to the side at her usual loudness.

"Ah, but thanks for earlier, Dai-chan." Satsuki started again, removing herself from the crook of his neck so that she faced him directly, inches apart. "With Tadashi-senpai. How did you know where we were?"

Aomine scowled. The next few minutes were spent giving his childhood friend a recap of the events that had happened back at practice as well as the classroom. At the very end, he was responded with a look of exasperation from the pink-haired girl.

"Hah!? Why did you say that, Dai-chan!?" Satsuki bursted, clenching her fists in the air.

"Ah.. Well, we have bathed together before." Aomine said lazily.

"What the hell, we were kids! It was completely different!"

"Ehh.. But there were also several times where I came to your house and you walked out of your room in practically no-"

"MOUUU, DAI-CHAN!" Satsuki pouted as she began to kick her feet against the blue-haired boy's legs, creating a much distraught look on his face.

"Get off me! Why are you still so close!?" Aomine shouted.

"It's because you're still holding me!"

In the next second, Aomine opened his arms to the side, allowing the pink-haired girl to drop straight onto the ground with a crash. She quickly bolted back up, rubbing her bottom in pain.

"That hurt, Dai-chan!" He lifted up a finger into his ear in an attempt to drown out the blabbering that subsequently came out of his childhood friend's mouth. He continued to watch from the corner of his eye as she made several of her angry expressions. However, as he was tuning her out, he suddenly noticed a presence nearby.

His eyes immediately darted towards the figure lingering a few meters away from them, who seemed to be visibly trembling while holding the same basketball that he had hit out of Satsuki's hands. It didn't take him long to register the familiar face as well as the group on the court behind him.

"A-A-Aomine-san," Furihata managed to force out the name of Touou's ace after receiving a demeaning look, sending him on the verge of tears.

The pink-haired girl paused at her drabbling, noticing Aomine had shifted his attention elsewhere. She followed his gaze onto the Seirin point-guard, who was now running back towards the court where the rest of the team stood. Half of them were staring right back at them, while the other seemed to be visibly blushing. She takes it that they had probably seen what was going on between her and Aomine.

Suddenly, the Touou ace managed to lock gazes with a certain red-haired boy, who had been giving him the same fiery glare in return.

Satsuki, on the other hand, found her attention on the one she admired, who also made eye contact with her at the same time. He delivered her a warm smile, and she felt her heart skip a beat as she responded his acknowledgment with one of her own. Her mind suddenly drifted towards his words after her fight with Daiki.

 _"Aomine-kun doesn't hate you, Satsuki-san."_

 _Momoi looks up at her crush in front of her, doubtful of any reason. "How do you know about that?"_

 _"I think he is more fond of you than you think. Although I respect him as a strong opponent, I'm confident that because it's you with him, Satsuki-_ san _, that he is able to have come this far as both a player and a person." Kuroko stated, sending the pink-haired girl a comforting smile. "He doesn't mean what he says when he's angry. So cheer up, okay?"_

A nostalgic image of 6 faces popped up inside her head, each of them belonging to the group that she had cherished the most back in middle school. She knew that along with Seirin and Touou, the other teams with the Generation of Miracles were also changing. Something inside her told her that the next time they all met, tremendous growth will have occurred compared to their previous selves.

She smiled once more, this time to herself, at Kuroko's words. Of all chances, if Touou were to ever play against Seirin in the Winter Cup, part of her genuinely wishes for Touou's victory. The other half, on the other hand, hopes that Kuroko would be able to reach through to Aomine once more through his basketball. Through winning or losing, she was sure that it would drive Aomine into a formidable change.

 _Thank you, Tesu-kun. I'm counting on you, too._

"Satsuki."

The pink-haired girl blinked, losing her train of thought as she peered back up at her childhood friend.

"Remind me to go to practice tomorrow."

"Dai-chan..?" She widened her eyes as she watched a determined smirk curl on the side of his lips.

Once again, she saw a glimpse of a change spark through the look in his eyes.

In the next moment, the ace wrapped a single arm around the neck of his best friend, pulling her away from the group that were still staring at them from afar. Momoi tripped a little from the sudden gesture, though she quickly regained a proper walk and adopted a large grin on her face.

Slowly, but surely, things were going to be different this time around. For better or for worse, it was still too early to confirm whether the change would be a good thing or not. Though at this point, it didn't seem to matter.

After all, they knew they'd still have eachother no matter what happens.

* * *

 _Fin._

* * *

A/N: Well, that's the end of the first story! I hope it was alright. I wanted to give off the idea that unlike what happened to the Generation of Miracles, Aomine decided to reconnect the bond with Satsuki before it slipped from his hands.

Let me know what you think! :D


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